Chapter 11

It was not until late the same afternoon that Astro, following the trail of the tyrannosaurus, realized that the giant beast was seriously hurt. At first the traces of blood on the ground and underbrush were slight, but gradually the blood spots became more profuse and the trail was covered with huge blotches of red. The Venusian cadet grew more cautious. The tyrannosaurus would be ten times as dangerous now. And it might be close by, lying in the jungle, licking its wounds.

As the sun began to sink in the western Venusian sky, Astro began to think about the coming night. He would have to hole up. He couldn’t chance stumbling into the beast in the dark. But it would also mean taking time to make another sleeping bag. Suddenly he saw a movement in the brush to his left. He dropped to the ground and aimed the shock rifle in that direction, eyes probing the green tangle for further movement.

“Make one move and you’ll die!” a harsh voice cut through the jungle. Astro remained still, his eyes darting to left and right, trying to locate the owner of the voice.

“Throw down your gun and stand up with your hands over your head!” came another voice, this one immediately behind him.

[Illustration: His eyes probed the jungle for further movement]

A patrol! Astro swore at himself for blindly walking into a trap and dropped his gun. He stood up and raised his hands over his head, turning slowly.

“Don’t turn around! Stand still!”

Astro stopped.

He could hear the rustle of movement in the underbrush behind him and then someone called, “Circle around to the right. Spread out and see if there are any others!”

Off to the side, he could hear the crashing of footsteps moving away in the jungle.

“All right,” continued the unknown voice, “drop that paralo-ray pistol to the ground. But no smart tricks. We can see you and you can’t see us, so take it easy and do as we say.”

Astro lowered his hands and unbuckled the gun belt, letting it fall to the ground. There was a sudden burst of movement behind him and powerful arms gripped his wrists. Within seconds his hands were tied quickly and expertly, and he was spun around to face his captors.

There were ten men, all dressed in the same green uniforms and plastic headgear he had seen at the Sinclair plantation. They stood in a semicircle around him, their guns leveled at his naked chest. The leader of the party nudged the nearest man and commented, “Never thought I’d see any animal like this in the jungle!” The other men laughed appreciatively.

“Who are you?” the leader demanded. “What are you doing here?”

“My name is Astro,” replied the big cadet boldly. “I’m a Space Cadet, Polaris unit, Space Academy, U.S.A. I’m here in the jungle with the rest of my unit hunting tyrannosaurus.”

“Tyranno, eh?” queried the man. “How long have you been trailing this one?”

“Just today. I saw him fight a big snake and lost my jungle gear in a thicket where I was hiding. I was separated from my space buddies two days ago.”

“Say, Helia,” suddenly called one of the other men, “he sounds like a Venusian.”

“Is that true?” asked the leader. “Are you from Venus?”

Astro nodded. “Venusport.”

“Then why are you in Space Academy?”

“I want to be a spaceman.”

“Why didn’t you go to school on Venus, instead of Earth. We have good space schools here.”

“I want a commission in the Solar Guard. You can only get that through the Academy,” replied Astro stoutly.

“Solar Guard!” snorted the leader, and then turned to the nearest man, speaking rapidly in a strange tongue.

For a moment the language confused Astro, then he recognized it as the ancient Venusian dialect. He understood it and started to answer, but then, on second thought, he decided not to reveal his knowledge of the language.

The leader turned back to Astro and asked a question.

Astro shook his head and said, “If you’re talking to me, you have to speak English. I know that’s the Venusian dialect you’re speaking, but I never learned it.”

The leader’s fist shot out and crashed against Astro’s jaw. The big cadet rocked back with the punch and then he lunged forward, straining against his bonds.

“Why, you--!” he exploded angrily.

“That was for not being a true Venusian!” snapped the leader. “Every son of Venus should understand his mother tongue!”

Astro bit his lip and fell silent.

The leader turned away, and shouting a command, started off through the jungle. Astro knew that the patrol had been ordered to move out, but he stood still, waiting for them to push him. They did. A hard jab in his naked side with the butt of a gun sent him stumbling forward in the center of the patrol.

Well, there was one consolation, he thought grimly. At least he wouldn’t have to spend the night out in the jungle alone again!

Astro had expected a long march, but to his surprise, he was pushed along a well-worn jungle trail for only three hundred yards in from the tyrannosaurus’s track. Finally they stopped before a huge teakwood tree. The leader pounded his rifle butt on the trunk three times.

Mystified, Astro watched a small section of the trunk open to reveal a modern vacuum-tube elevator shaft. He was pushed inside with the men of the patrol and the tree-trunk door was closed. The leader pushed a lever and the car dropped so suddenly that Astro nearly lost his balance. He judged that they must have fallen two hundred feet when the car stopped and another door opened. He was pushed out into a high-vaulted tunnel with cement walls.

“Hurry up!” snapped the leader.

The big cadet moved along the tunnel, followed by the patrol, turning from one tunnel into another, all of them slanting downhill. Astro guessed that he was being taken to some subterranean cave. He asked his captors where they were taking him.

“Don’t talk!” snapped one of the men at his side.

“This jungle will be swarming with Solar Guardsmen once they discover I’m lost,” said Astro. “Who are you and what are you holding me prisoner for?” The big cadet decided it would be better to feign ignorance of the existence of the rebel organization.

“Let the Solar Guard come!” snapped the leader. “They’ll find something they never expected.”

“But what do you want with me?” asked the cadet.

“You’ll know soon enough!”

They had been walking for nearly an hour and the tunnels still slanted downward but more sharply now. Turning into a much larger tunnel than any of the rest, Astro noticed a huge door on one side. Through its crystal-covered ports he saw racks of illegal heat blasters and paralo-ray guns. A man stepped out of the door, and raising his hand in a form of salute, called out a few words in the Venusian tongue. Astro recognized it as a greeting, “Long live Venusians!” and suppressed a smile.

One by one, the men of the patrol handed over their rifles and ray guns, while the man in the armory checked off their names. Then they all removed their knee-length jungle boots and traded their plastic helmets for others of the same design but of a lighter material. Each man turned his back while switching helmets, obviously to avoid being recognized by any of the others, since the new helmet was also frosted except for a slit at eye level. Wearing the lighter headgear and common street shoes, the men continued their march through the tunnel. They passed into a still larger tunnel, and for the first time, Astro could see daylight. As they drew nearer to the mouth of the tunnel, the cadet could see outside, and the scene before him made him gasp for breath.

A full twenty miles long and fifteen miles wide, a canyon stretched before him. And it seemed to the big cadet that every square inch of the canyon floor was occupied by buildings and spaceships. Hundreds of green-clad men were moving around the ships and buildings.

“By the craters of Luna!” gasped Astro as the patrol paused in the mouth of the tunnel. “What--what is this?”

“The first city of Venus. True Venus. Built by Venusians with Venusian materials only!” said the leader proudly. “There’s the answer to your Solar Guard!”

“I don’t understand,” said Astro. “What are you going to do?”